'Penny!' The stage director yelled, 'Eva's lost her voice! We need you to step in as Elsa!' Penny was shocked. It was only the third show and already Eva, the actress who got to role of Elsa above her, was sick. She suddenly felt her heart beat faster and a wave of nervous nausea overcome her. This was it; she got to play a Disney Princess on Broadway! Well, until Eva's voice came back, which could be at anytime. Costume and makeup ran over to her, grabbing her and pulling her into the dressing room. Thank God she would be able to squeeze in a quick dress rehearsal before the sound checks started. Suddenly she found eight tickets being thrust into her hands by the director. 'Here, invite your friends, partner and family, whatever for your debut night.'

'Thank you!' She gasped, grabbing out her phone, she texted everyone, informing them that tonight would be her Broadway debut and that she had tickets for each one of them. 'Oh my God, I'm so excited!' she grinned before she found herself being ushered on stage for a final rehearsal.

It soon turned 7 o'clock and Penny felt her nerves take over. This was it, it was finally happening. Everything she had worked for was coming true. She was ready to make her mark on Broadway and give the performance of her life and knowing that her friends and the man she loved would be watching made it more special. She turned off her mobile phone and made her way to the stage. She could see Amy, Burt, Bernadette, Howard, Raj and Raj's new girlfriend Emily all sitting in their seats with their programmes and talking to each other. She even saw Leonard and a now 5 month's pregnant Priya also taking their seats. She smiled but it soon faded when she saw the empty seat beside Amy. Sheldon hadn't arrived yet, but he would come, she was sure of it. He would come.

'Penny! Take your place!' The stage director yelled at her and Penny quickly moved to where she had to be. Soon enough it began and Penny had never felt so important and she stood on stage, singing and acting. At intermission, there was still no sign of Sheldon and she quickly turned on her phone. Nothing. No texts, no missed calls, no voicemail, where was he? Soon enough she was needed back on stage and she had to put her dismay behind her; thank goodness the lights were bright enough she couldn't see her audience.

At ten past one in the morning, Penny entered her apartment, feeling extremely angry, hurt and let down.

'SHELDON! WHERE ARE YOU?! GET OUT OF BED!' she yelled, but there was no answer. She stormed into the bedroom and flicked on the light, however there was no sign of him. She was too angry to be worried about where he was and although she knew that was bad, she didn't care. At the moment she needed a drink. A strong drink. Angrily she turned to her "alcohol cupboard" that she had hidden under their bed. Taking out a bottle of tequila and a shot glass, she quickly downed six shots and she jumped when she heard the front door shut. Blind with rage, she ran into the front room to see Sheldon attempting to tiptoe towards the bedroom.

'Penny, what are you doing up?' he asked.

'Sheldon, I've been drinking tequila and have the strength of four Sumo Wrestlers right now so don't even try and be smart with me!'

'My genius mind has picked up that you angry with me, what seems to be the problem Penny?'

'Oh don't you dare try and be all calm and take the moral high ground. Did you know that tonight was my first performance on Broadway?'

'Yes, you texted me about it,' Sheldon said, sitting down in his spot. Penny was so angry she could feel the smoke screaming out of her ears.

'So… you knew and yet you didn't come to see it.'

'Penny, I'm on the verge of a breakthrough with my work, of fulfilling my lifelong dream. You didn't state it to be compulsory for me to attend.'

'Sheldon, I am your girlfriend… no, I am your PARTNER! Your other half! I love you! I have lifelong dreams too and tonight it actually happened! I acted professionally and got paid a lot for it for the first time! The number of times you mocked me for it, the number of times you put me down! And when it finally happens for me, where are you?' Penny yelled, 'At your lab… working.' Her voice softened as tears of anger and frustration mixed with sadness found their way down her cheeks. Sheldon bit his lip, feeling bad. He hadn't meant to cause this much anguish to his girlfriend, 'Even Leonard was there Sheldon. My cheating ex-boyfriend saw my dream come true but my actual boyfriend didn't.' She said quietly, sniffing and wiping her eyes. 'I'm going to bed.' She turned to go and Sheldon got up to follow. Sensing his intentions, she whipped around, glared at him and pointed her finger at him as she spoke, 'DON'T follow me.' She hissed before walking away.

Sheldon sighed. Why couldn't Penny understand? He was about to prove String Theory for heaven's sake. He had spent a majority of his life trying to prove its existence and to be so close gave him the motivation to keep going. Sheldon sighed and walked into the spare room. He drew back the covers and put on the spare pair of pyjamas that he kept in the guest wardrobe. He tried to get comfortable but the bed was somehow uncomfortable and he was so used to sleeping next to Penny now that it was strange not to have her beside him. He had to admit that this was probably their worst fight, they had had bigger but never this serious. She had never kicked him out their bedroom before, so he would definitely have to make it up to her. It was a sleepless night for Sheldon and he ended up getting dressed again and going back to work on his laptop.

When Penny got up, after also having a poor night's sleep, she walked into the living room to see Sheldon asleep at his desk. She was still angry at Sheldon, so she made no effort to talk to him when he woke due to her clattering around in the kitchen.

'Hey Penny,' he said softly, however he received no response, 'Penny… I'm really sorry.'

'Yeah well, that's a saying I've heard before.' Penny spat, popping her bread into the toaster.

'I truly am Penny, please. I'll be there tonight, I promise.'

'Whatever Sheldon, show up, don't show up… I don't care.' Penny growled. Sheldon got up and walked over to her.

'You do care Penny, I know you do. I promise, I will be there tonight.' Sheldon whispered, kissing her neck, her cheek and then moving to her forehead. Penny sighed and relented, letting him kiss her lips.

'It really hurt to know that you weren't there Sheldon. You've supported me with everything but to know that you weren't there to support me on the first time I was going to be on stage… it killed me inside.'

'I'm so sorry Penny. I promise I will be there, I promise.'

'Well promise all you want, I might not even be performing tonight. Eva might have got her voice back and…' Penny was cut off by the sound of her cell ringing. The song that Sheldon had written for her rung out and Sheldon smiled at it. 'Hello? Yes, this is Penny Miller speaking… oh hey Steve… what? Really! Are you serious! Oh wow that's amazing! Thank you… I'll see you in a couple of hours, alright bye!'

'Well?'

'That was the director of the show… I got an amazing review, better than the two that Eva did and they've decided to replace her with me. So she will be the understudy and I will be the lead!'

'Oh my goodness that's amazing!' Sheldon cried, hugging his girlfriend tight.

'Say you'll come tonight, please…'

'Of course I will, I promise.' Sheldon kissed her softly.

'It's funny to think that a few months ago, I thought I would never get my big break. I was one person out of seven billion, on one out of eight planets, in one star system out of a hundred billion star systems, in one galaxy out of a hundred billion galaxies. I felt so insignificant!' Penny laughed, pushing her hair back and placing a hand on her hip before realising what she just said, 'Wow, I've hung out with you nerds for way too long. Some of your sciencey stuff has actually stuck in my brain!'

Sheldon laughed and cupped Penny's face with one hand, 'Out of a hundred billion galaxies that exist in a hundred billion star systems, out of seven billion people… Penny, you have your own unique genetic makeup, your thumbprint is yours alone, you can create art and write songs, you can sing and act. You are depended upon by others that love you so you are enormously significant.'

'Sheldon, you know you come out with the sweetest of things sometimes.' Penny laughed, kissing him softly.

Sheldon's jaw dropped as he saw the results of his experiments finally pull through. He had finally proven string theory! This would surely bring him the Nobel Prize, oh there was no doubt about that. He had done it! He had fulfilled his lifelong dream; over 20 years of tireless work had finally paid off. He picked up the phone and called all the science associations and by the sixth phone call, his eyes happened to pass over the clock. 7.23pm. Sheldon's jaw dropped. No! He couldn't miss Penny's show again, not after how angry she had been at him this morning and late last night!

He grabbed his jacket, wallet and ticket and ran. He even got in a dreaded taxi! Upon arrival he arrived at the doors to be stopped by an usher.

'Can I help you sir?'

'I need to get in there.'

'I'm sorry sir but the show started at 7 o'clock, I'm afraid I can't let you in.'

'What about at the intermission?'

'I'm sorry sir, but it does state on the back of your ticket that you must adhere to the time given on your ticket. Final entries are at 6.45pm, the time is now 7.38pm, you are nearly an hour late and therefore I cannot grant you access.'

'Look, my girlfriend is the star of that show! She will murder me if I don't see it!' Sheldon cried, pointing to Penny's picture in the programme he had purchased.

'You're going out with Penny Miller? Wow she's hot!'

'I know, now will you let me in?'

'Sorry sir, I'm afraid I can't.'

'Well will you at least let me listen?' Sheldon growled and begrudgingly the usher agreed, never taking his eye of Sheldon in fear of that he might try to sneak in. Sheldon smiled as he listen to Penny sing and speak her lines. All that practicing, all those lessons, they had really paid off and after what seemed like a lifetime, the show was finally over.

Sheldon rushed to the backstage entrance and stood there for at least an hour before Penny emerged. The second she saw him, she rolled her eyes, pulled up the collar of her coat and walked off.

'Penny please! Wait!'

'Piss off Sheldon!'

'Penny, stop!' Sheldon cried, grabbing her hand.

'You promised Sheldon! You promised!'

'I'm sorry! I made a breakthrough! I managed to prove the existence of string theory and I tried to get in, truly I did but that usher, John, he wouldn't let me in. I didn't see it but I heard it.'

'Look forget it Sheldon! I don't care anymore. Just… leave me alone.' Penny sneered, pulling her hand vigorously away from Sheldon. He had no choice but to watch her walk away from him. Kicking the lamp post with his foot, he cursed before making his way home. Upon arrival, he found that Penny too was home and was giving him the cold shoulder, 'Penny, we need to talk about this.'

'There's nothing to say.' Penny said in a monotonous voice. He discovered that that was the most he would get out of her for the next three days. Whilst he was bombarded with interviews and proposals from all different companies and lawyers, Penny worked tirelessly on her production. He was shocked when he came home one day and he found her sitting there waiting for him, 'Hello Sheldon.'

'Heya, so are you going to talk to me now.'

'Yes, but I only have one thing I need to say to you.' Penny said softly, clasping her hands together. Sheldon sat opposite her. 'Congratulations on proving String Theory Sheldon, but I think that we both know that we've gone as far as we can go.'

'Well not really, we're at the height of our careers now, things can only go up from here.' Sheldon said.

'No, that's not what I meant. When people ask me how things are with you, I used to say they're great, I love him so much. They ask me how could I live with you with your strict schedules, isn't it weird? And I say no it's not because it works for me, because I love being with you but you know what? It doesn't anymore. In fact it's the opposite of working! I thought being with you made sense but all I know now is that it just doesn't. I've been the star of "Frozen" for four days now and you could have come and seen it, but you didn't. Amy has been there every time, Bernadette and Howard have seen it twice and even LEONARD has seen it twice! Leonard, Sheldon! Leonard has seen it more times than you. Yet my boyfriend, my partner, the guy I LIVE with! He cannot be asked to give up three hours of his evening to see me perform on stage. I… I can't do this anymore Sheldon.' Penny said, exasperated. Sheldon stared at her in shock.

'Are you… terminating our understanding of one another?' he asked and Penny nodded.

'I have too… I'll look for a new place as soon as I've got my paycheck.'

'Penny… please don't. I need you, I love you.' Sheldon cried. Penny shook her head. That was the first time he had ever said "I love you" to her, but it was too late. As much as she wanted to give in, forgive him and say I love you back, she couldn't. With Sheldon, his work came first and it always would. She had to remain strong though, supressing the feeling of needing to bawl her eyes out. Maybe they would get back together, maybe they wouldn't but at the moment, she couldn't deal with Sheldon. She needed her space, she needed to be single and concentrate on her work.

'I'm sorry Sheldon, it's over.'

So a nice long chapter for you guys. Thanks for all your reviews so far, hopefully we can make 250 reviews *crosses fingers* Let me know what you thought of the chapter and I'll update as soon as I can xx